Reverse engineering: Legality and application in different regions of the world.

The question of the legality of reverse engineering is often when and how it is possible and legal to execute. As a matter of fact, the conditions under which such practice is legal are very strict. Yet, legal boundaries seem to differentiate regarding different actions like, for example, decompilation or reverse engineering, or under which legal framework the software upon which reverse engineering is exercised is protected. Nevertheless, the practice itself is legal and the specifications are usually very clear, therefore, the exact conditions of legality depend on which country the practice is executed. In this paper, at a first level we will overview the legal provisions and frameworks of the European Union and the United States of America, since they are two of the most important actors in terms of rules and then we will briefly mention the situation in China and Japan.